Cal State Northridge Drops 80-66 Decision at Washington

Seattle, Wa - Josh Jenkins scored 17 points and Jonathan Heard added 14 more but it wasn't enough as the Cal State Northridge men's basketball team dropped a 80-66 non-league decision to the Washington Huskies on Saturday afternoon at Bank of America Arena.

Jenkins hit 4-of-4 shots from three-point territory and added five assists. Tremaine Townsend led Matador rebounders with ten boards while Calvin Chitwood broke the school record with six blocks.

Cal State Northridge shot 44 percent (27-for-62) from the floor compared to .463 (25-for-54) for the Huskies. For only the third time in ten games, the Matadors were out rebounded, this time 42-29 by a physical Washington front line.

"Washington got way to many second shots," said Matador head coach Bobby Braswell. "Jon Brockman got us into some trouble down low. He man handled us under the basket. Somehow, we have to get bigger and stronger."

The Matadors were hampered by fouls in the first half. Jenkins picked up two fouls in the first 1:17 of the game, and backup point-guard Paul Wayne also picked up a pair of fouls with 14:00 left in the first half.

Washington rushed to a 27-16 lead with 8:36 remaining thanks in part to five three-pointers including two each by Joel Smith and Justin Dentmon.

The Washington lead extended to 13 points, 29-16, with 6:27 before halftime, but six straight CSUN points cut the margin to 29-22 with 4:09. However, Jon Brockman scored on a layup to make it 31-22.

A three-pointer by Deon Tresvant made it 39-33 with 40 seconds before halftime but another Husky three-pointer by Venoy Overton made it 42-33 at halftime.

Dentmon scored 13 of his 18 points in the first half with Brockman adding 12 of his 21 points in the first 20 minutes. Jenkins scored seven points to lead Matador players at halftime.

The Matadors made it close to start the second half. Seven straight points made it 42-40 with 17:12. And at the 7:34 mark, it was 58-54 thanks to a three-pointer by Jenkins.

However, a 13-1 by Washington made it 71-55 and the game was never in doubt after that.

"This was a difficult environment for us," said Braswell. "It's a tough place to play against a very good Washington team. I would grade us at probably a C-plus, B-minus. We can play better."

Cal State Northridge fell to 7-3 overall while Washington is now 7-4. The Matadors will rest for the holidays and resume play on Dec. 28 at Utah Valley State.

Matador Minute ...
Calvin Chitwood's six blocks broke the school record previously held by Kevin Taylor who had five against Sacramento State (2/12/98) ... Jonathan Heard played in his 100th game at Cal State Northridge ... Tremaine Townsend grabbed ten rebounds ... Townsend has grabbed ten or more rebounds in five of the ten Matador games.